"We've been overwhelmed by solidarity"

Submitted by AWL on 13 May, 2009 - 6:17

Rob Williams, the Unite convenor at the Linamar car parts plant in Swansea, who was sacked on 28 April, spoke to Sacha Ismail.

Give us the background.

I've been at the plant for thirteen and a half years. When I started, we worked for Ford, producing components for the company directly. In 2000, Visteon was spun off as a separate components manufacturer. Since then Visteon workers have had a non-stop battle with management, against their attempts to make us pay for their cost-lowering, as you've seen reach its conclusion with the recent occupations. In Swansea, to give you an example, we used to get work from the Ford foundry in Leamington, and then sell the parts on to Ford Dagenham - at a loss to us! Of course, the workforce was expected to pay for this disparity.
After we fought successfully to uphold terms and conditions at Visteon, management decided to get rid of the Swansea plant. Last year it was sold, or I should really say given away, to Linamar, a mainly non-union company in Canada. To give you an idea of who these people are, just before Christmas they told their workers they were getting a ten percent wage cut - by email! The one plant they failed to do it in was the one that was unionised. So they really couldn't stomach our level of organisation in Swansea, and decided to break the union in order to push down terms and conditions.

What happened when you were sacked?

On 28 April, I happened to be in the main office, next to the plant. Brian Wade, whose official title is group president, is the main boss associated with the plant. He asked me to come and have a word, and he and another Canadian manager inform me that I'm sacked. No right to appeal, no suspension with pay pending a hearing - things I would routinely insist on for the members I represent. There was no one from HR present, let alone a union representative. I told them they couldn't do that, and they complained that whenever they proposed something, I said no. What a terrible crime for a trade union rep to be guilty of!
The phrase they used was "an irretrievable breakdown of trust". What bothered them was not just the situation in Swansea, but also the work we've done in solidarity with the Visteon struggle.
When I refused to leave, they called the police, five of whom turned up at the plant, but I ran onto the shop floor and into the union office. There was only forty or fifty on the shop floor - the workforce is depleted since we had 150 voluntary redundancies last year - but the boys risked their jobs to surround the union office. After a while, supporters started to appear at the gates, so the police thought better of it and left.
Eventually the full time officials were allowed on site, and the company agreed to negotiations with Andy Richards, who's the Unite regional secretary. The shop floor returned to work, but with the understand that if the sacking stood they'd be out again.
The talks continued and a week later, Tony Woodley and I met in London with Brian Wade and some others from Linamar. So far, however, they're sticking to their decision.

And now there's a ballot for industrial action?

I've spoken to all the stewards by now, outside work, and the feeling is for action. Ballot papers will be with members on Monday, so hopefully we'll see. It's an open question on the ballot - how and when we strike depends on the result, and on the stewards' discussions. But we've set up a hardship fund, so we're getting every in place for a serious strike.
We've learnt that management are proposing a 'buy down' of terms and conditions - a one off payment to bribe workers to break their contract. In that context, it's clear what this victimisation is all about.

What can labour movement activists do to support you?

We've been overwhelmed by solidarity - not just from unions in Swansea, but nationally and internationally. We're holding a public meeting tonight [13 May] to mobilise support and show the boys in the plant that they're not on their own. We'll be holding a demonstration this Sunday.
Send messages of solidarity, and donate to the fund. But more generally we need widespread action to stop the bosses' offensive against trade unionism. We're asking workers to consider every possible form of solidarity.
All companies want workers to pay for the crisis. Linamar Swansea is small, but if we win, it will give strength to workers everywhere. If we lose, on the other hand, it will mean that a company with two hundred workers in the UK was allowed to ride rough over a union of two million. It will mean the right to be in a union is under threat. So our message is: don't let the two hundred of us fight it alone.

Comments

Between 200 and 250 trade unionists and political activists attended a rally against the sacking of Rob Williams, Linamar plant convenor and Socialist Party activist on Wednesday. The impressive turnout included significant numbers of Rob's fellow workers from the Linamar plant along with representatives of Visteon workers from Enfield and Basildon and fellow trade unionists from assorted unions from the Swansea area.

A number of speakers made contributions from the platform and all pointed out that the sacking of Rob represented an attack on the Linamar workforce but also on the trade union movement as a whole.

Rob was sacked without explanation or reason without any right to defend himself or challenge the decision. Speakers pointed out that Brian Wade, chief executive of the plant had made it clear that Rob's sacking had been 'costed' and that it represented a premeditated, calculated and brutal act against a trade union activist.

Andy Richards, Unite Regional Secretary informed the meeting that Brian Wade had advised Tony Woodley at a meeting following Rob's initial sacking that "at the end of today this man will not be working for Linamar".

All speakers expressed their solidarity with Rob and pointed out Rob's support for Visteon Workers in their recent fight. It was clear that the critical factor was going to be the result of the strike ballot against Rob's sacking that begins on Monday 18th. Speakers called for an overwhelming 'yes' vote to make it clear to Linamar that Rob's sacking will not be accepted.

The determined mood of the meeting left no doubt that this is just the start of a struggle to get Rob's job back on the same terms as he left it, without Rob accepting conditions for his return such as supporting Linamar's proposed attacks on terms and conditions.

As Rob himself put it: "This is not just an attack on me, it is an attack on the Unite Union, the Trade Union movement in general and an attack on the principal of Trade Unionism".